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50 free EDSA Revolution trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This EDSA Revolution trivia quiz covers the 1986 People Power Revolution from the declaration of martial law to the helicopter that carried the Marcos family out of Malacañang. It starts with the background every Filipino student learns: Proclamation 1081, the Ninoy Aquino assassination at Manila International Airport, the snap election of February 7, 1986, and the walkout of the COMELEC technicians. Then it walks the four days themselves: the Enrile–Ramos press conference at Camp Aguinaldo, Cardinal Sin's appeal on Radio Veritas, the nuns kneeling in front of Tadiar's tanks on Ortigas Avenue, June Keithley's Radyo Bandido, the Sotelo landing, Colonel Balbas refusing the kill order, and the rival inaugurations at Club Filipino and Malacañang. The easy questions are the ones that come up in any Philippine history class: what EDSA stands for, which colour the crowds wore, where Marcos fled. The harder ones ask who swore Cory Aquino in, which station's transmitter Radyo Bandido borrowed, who composed "Magkaisa", and what Senator Paul Laxalt told Marcos on the phone. If you want the wider country, our Philippines trivia quiz is the broader page. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entry for the revolution, the people involved or the songs before publishing, and the sentence that supports it is stored with each question.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year did the EDSA Revolution take place?
1986
The main demonstrations ran from February 22 to 25 and ended a 20-year Marcos rule.
Q 02What does the acronym EDSA stand for?
Epifanio de los Santos Avenue
The avenue is named after the academic Epifanio de los Santos and runs 23.8 km around Metro Manila.
Q 03Which colour gave the uprising its other nickname, the '___ Revolution'?
Yellow
The ribbons referenced a Tony Orlando and Dawn hit and became the symbol of protest after Ninoy Aquino's death.
Q 04Which Archbishop of Manila led the religious groups at EDSA?
Cardinal Jaime Sin
Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, Archbishop of Cebu, also backed the protests as head of the bishops' conference.
Q 05Cardinal Sin made his appeal to the people over which Catholic broadcaster?
Radio Veritas
Its 2003 inscription in the UNESCO Memory of the World register honours the broadcasts of those days.
Q 06Where did the Marcos family go into exile?
Hawaii
They reached Hickam Air Force Base on February 26 after stops at Clark and Andersen air bases.
Q 07Who was inaugurated as the eleventh President of the Philippines in 1986?
Corazon Aquino
She was the first female president in Philippine history and is often called the 'Mother of Democracy'.
Q 08In which year was Ninoy Aquino assassinated at Manila International Airport?
1983
He was shot as he disembarked on August 21; the airport was later renamed in his honour.
Q 09Under what alias was Ninoy Aquino's second passport issued?
Marcial Bonifacio
The name combined 'martial' with Fort Bonifacio, where he had been imprisoned.
Q 10Which proclamation number placed the Philippines under martial law in 1972?
No. 1081
Marcos cited the unrest after the 1969 balance of payments crisis as justification.
Q 11Which party did Marcos run under in the 1986 snap election?
Kilusang Bagong Lipunan
KBL, the 'New Society Movement', was the regime's ruling party.
Q 12Who was Marcos's vice-presidential running mate in the snap election?
Arturo Tolentino
Tolentino was proclaimed vice-president alongside Marcos on February 15 amid the fraud controversy.
Q 13Who ran as Cory Aquino's vice-presidential running mate?
Salvador Laurel
'Doy' Laurel, son of former president Jose P. Laurel, had wanted the top spot himself before UNIDO backed Aquino.
Q 21Enrile crossed EDSA on February 23 to join Ramos where?
Camp Crame
The two camps face each other across EDSA; the crowd cheered him as he crossed.
Q 22Marcos urged Enrile and Ramos to 'stop this ___' in his news conference. What word?
Stupidity
He tried phoning Enrile, who refused to take the call, then went on TV vowing to crush anyone in his way.
Q 23Butz Aquino told supporters to gather at which Cubao department store?
Isetann
From there the ATOM, BANDILA and FSDM marchers headed south along Aurora Boulevard to Camp Aguinaldo.
Q 14Which accredited poll watcher's count had Aquino beating Marcos?
NAMFREL
With 70% of precincts in, it had Aquino ahead 7,835,070 to 7,053,068.
Q 15What was the name of Aquino's February 16 rally at Luneta Park?
Tagumpay ng Bayan
About two million people attended, and Aquino announced a nonviolent civil disobedience campaign there.
Q 16What does RAM, the group of officers behind the aborted coup, stand for?
Reform the Armed Forces Movement
RAM formed in 1982 among officers angered by patronage politics and corruption in the AFP.
Q 17Which colonel founded RAM and planned the assault on Malacañang?
Gringo Honasan
Honasan later led several coup attempts against the Aquino government.
Q 18Which Defense Minister withdrew support from Marcos on February 22?
Juan Ponce Enrile
He and the RAM plotters acted after Marcos ordered their arrest and paraded two captured majors before the press.
Q 19Which AFP Vice Chief of Staff resigned to join the rebels at the camps?
Fidel V. Ramos
He was also chief of the Philippine Constabulary and went on to become president in 1992.
Q 20Where did Enrile and Ramos hold their 6:30 p.m. press conference on February 22?
Camp Aguinaldo
They spoke from the Ministry of National Defense building at the AFP headquarters.
Q 24'Radyo Bandido' broadcast from the transmitter of which station?
DZRJ-AM
Father James Reuter's team adopted the 'Bandit Radio' callsign to hide their location from soldiers.
Q 25Which broadcaster kept Radyo Bandido on air through the nights of the revolution?
June Keithley
A former actress, she worked alongside her husband Angelo Castro Jr. from a booth in Santa Mesa.
Q 26The 'LABAN' hand sign flashed by the crowds forms which letter?
L
Made with thumb and index finger, it means 'fight' and abbreviates Lakas ng Bayan, Ninoy Aquino's party.
Q 27Which patriotic kundiman became the opposition's protest anthem and was sung at EDSA?
Bayan Ko
Its Spanish lyrics date to the Philippine–American War; the song was deemed seditious under martial law.
Q 28Which general's Marine column was stopped by crowds on Ortigas Avenue on February 23?
Artemio Tadiar
Nuns knelt with rosaries in front of the tanks, and the troops withdrew without a shot fired.
Q 29Which colonel led the 15th Strike Wing helicopters that defected and landed at the camp?
Antonio Sotelo
The 'Sotelo landing' is seen as the point where the military balance turned against Marcos.
Q 30Which Marine colonel stalled and refused four orders to shell the rebel camp?
Braulio Balbas
He told his superior his men were 'still looking for maps' and 'still positioning the cannons'.